DING!
Both fighters came out for the third round showing the accumulated damage from their intense exchanges. Ippo's left eye was beginning to swell, while Miyata had angry red marks across his ribs where Ippo's body shots had found their mark.
"Look at them," Fujii said in amazement. "Two rounds in and they're both still pressing the pace. This is championship-level heart from both fighters."
The third round began with a different energy. Both boxers seemed to understand that the fight was reaching its crucial phase, and the intensity ratcheted up accordingly.
Ippo immediately resumed his relentless pressure, but Miyata had made a key adjustment. Instead of trying to create distance, he began to pivot and angle off, using his superior footwork to avoid being trapped against the ropes.
"If I can't control the distance, I'll control the angles," Miyata thought, circling to his left as Ippo pursued.
"Smart boxing from Miyata," Kamogawa observed. "He's finally stopped trying to fight Ippo's fight."
But Ippo's response showed just how much he'd learned. Instead of charging straight forward, he began cutting off the ring systematically, herding Miyata toward the corners like a seasoned pressure fighter.
"Incredible ring generalship!" Aoki exclaimed. "Who taught him to cut off angles like that?"
Through Yuto's memories, Ippo could feel the pattern of pressure boxing—not just moving forward, but controlling space, limiting options, making every step his opponent took work in his favor.
The exchanges became more technical as both fighters settled into their rhythm. Miyata's counters were finding their mark more frequently, but Ippo's body shots were taking their toll, slowing Miyata's lateral movement.
PAH! PAH! PAH!
A vicious combination from Miyata snapped Ippo's head back, but the shorter fighter responded immediately with a brutal hook to the liver.
PAH!
Miyata's face contorted in pain, but he managed to tie up before Ippo could follow up.
"Both fighters are showing incredible heart," Fujii noted, his pen barely keeping up with the action. "But you can see the accumulated damage beginning to affect their movement."
"His body shots are getting heavier," Miyata realized during the clinch. "I need to end this soon or he's going to break me down completely."
As they separated, Miyata unleashed his most beautiful combination of the fight—a textbook four-punch sequence that should have put Ippo down for good.
But somehow, impossibly, Ippo slipped the last punch and was inside Miyata's guard before the taller fighter could recover.
"How did he—" Miyata's thought was cut short as Ippo's uppercut found its target.
PAH!
The uppercut—the punch they'd been building toward for three months—landed clean on Miyata's chin, lifting him off his feet.
"THERE IT IS!" Takamura shouted from his referee position. "The uppercut!"
Miyata crashed to the canvas, his eyes rolling back momentarily.
"One! Two! Three!"
"Get up," Miyata told himself desperately. "I can't lose like this. Not after everything I've worked for."
"Four! Five! Six!"
With tremendous effort, Miyata rolled to his knees.
"Seven! Eight!"
He stood, but his legs were unsteady, his guard lower than it should have been.
"I have to finish this," Ippo thought, moving in for what could be the final exchange of the fight.
But Miyata, drawing on reserves he didn't know he had, managed one last perfect counter as Ippo charged forward.
PAH!
The straight left caught Ippo flush on the jaw, and both fighters went down simultaneously.
DING!
The third round ended with both boxers on the canvas, saved by the bell.
----
"This is unbelievable," Kimura said as both fighters struggled to their corners. "They're both completely spent, but neither one will give up."
In the corners, the advice was urgent and direct.
"You've hurt him," Kamogawa told Ippo. "His legs aren't the same. Keep the pressure on and this fight is yours."
Across the ring, Miyata's father was equally blunt. "You're behind on points. You need a knockout to win this. Everything you have left, put it into one perfect counter."
DING!
The final round began with both fighters moving more slowly, but the determination in their eyes hadn't dimmed.
Ippo came forward with the same relentless pressure, but his movements were more labored now. Three rounds of intense action had taken their toll.
"This is it," he thought. "Everything I've worked for comes down to these three minutes."
Miyata, despite his damaged ribs and unsteady legs, began to circle more actively, looking for the one perfect opportunity to land a fight-ending counter.
"I won't let it end like this," he thought. "One shot. That's all I need."
The fourth round became a war of attrition. Both fighters were running on heart alone, their technical skills still sharp despite their exhaustion.
"Look at the technique," Fujii marveled. "Even completely exhausted, they're still boxing at an incredibly high level."
Ippo managed to trap Miyata in a corner and unleashed a devastating body attack. Each punch was thrown with everything he had left.
PAH! PAH! PAH!
Miyata's guard wilted under the assault, his breathing becoming labored as the body shots accumulated. He needed to create space, needed to find one final counter to turn the fight around.
Desperately, Miyata threw a straight left, putting everything he had behind it. It was perfectly timed, beautifully executed—the kind of punch that had won him countless fights.
But as the punch extended toward Ippo's head, something extraordinary happened.
Ippo's eyes began to glow with a strange light, an inner fire that seemed to come from somewhere deep within. For a split second, his figure seemed to overlap with another—a ghostly image of Takeda Yuto, the world champion whose spirit flowed through him.
"This is it," both Ippo and the memory of Yuto thought as one. "The moment when everything changes."
Ippo slipped the straight left by the smallest of margins and planted his feet firmly on the canvas.
SCREEET!
The sound of his boxing shoes gripping the canvas echoed through the suddenly silent gym as he stepped forward into perfect position.
Time seemed to slow as Ippo's right hand came up from below, carrying every ounce of power he possessed, guided by the technique of a world champion and driven by his own unbreakable will.
The uppercut connected perfectly under Miyata's chin.
CRACK!
The sound of the impact was unlike anything they'd heard before—not just the thud of glove on flesh, but the sharp crack of devastating force meeting its target.
"Ughhhhh!" Miyata's mouthguard flew from his lips with a sharp tchkk sound as his head snapped back violently.
His eyes rolled back, his legs gave out completely, and he collapsed to the canvas like a marionette with its strings cut.
THUD!
The gym fell into complete silence except for the sound of Miyata's unconscious breathing.
"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten!"
DING! DING! DING!
"It's over!" Takamura announced. "Ippo wins by knockout!"
---
"Incredible!" Takamura shouted. "That uppercut was devastating!"
The gym erupted in stunned applause as Ippo stood over his fallen opponent, breathing heavily but victorious. The light in his eyes slowly faded back to normal, but everyone who had witnessed it knew they'd seen something extraordinary.
"In forty years of covering boxing," Fujii said, his hand trembling as he wrote, "I've never witnessed such a dramatic knockout. That final uppercut... it was like watching a different fighter entirely."
Kamogawa approached Ippo, his usually stern expression showing rare pride.
"That was championship-level boxing," he said simply. "You've proven you belong in this sport."
As the medical staff checked on Miyata, who was slowly regaining consciousness, Ippo knelt beside his opponent.
"Are you okay?" Ippo asked with genuine concern.
Miyata blinked several times, his vision clearing. Despite the devastating loss, he managed a weak smile.
"That was... incredible," he said slowly. "I've never been hit that hard in my life. You've really become strong, Ippo."
"You pushed me to become stronger," Ippo replied. "Thank you for that."
As they helped Miyata to his feet, both understanding that while this chapter of their rivalry was closed, their journey as fighters was just beginning.
Outside the ring, Fujii was already planning his article. This was exactly the kind of story that would captivate his readers—two young fighters who'd discovered what it truly meant to be strong.
The rematch was over, but for both Ippo and Miyata, the real journey was just beginning.
Aoki shook his head in amazement. "And here I thought I knew what hard work looked like."
"Those two just set a new standard for everyone in this gym," Kimura added.
As the gym slowly returned to normal training, the echo of what they'd witnessed lingered. Two fighters had stepped into that ring, but what had emerged was something greater—a testament to the power of dedication, growth, and the refusal to accept limitations.
For Ippo, it was proof that he was no longer the helpless boy who'd been beaten under a bridge. He'd become someone who could stand and fight for what mattered.